A month ago, Stuart Findlay sat at the club's training base, discussing his future. The centre-back was about to enter the last six months of his contract at Oxford United.
The assumption was that his loan deal at Heart of Midlothian would become a permanent one in the summer.
Findlay didn't hide the fact that he would be open to a longer stay.
“I think it would be an absolute no-brainer. I've loved every minute I've been here so far," he said.
Fast forward to this week and the 30-year-old put pen to paper on a two-year deal from the summer.
It was indeed a no-brainer, Findlay stating he could not have "dreamt of anything better" in terms of how the loan has worked out.
"I think when I spoke to you guys a couple of weeks ago, I put it out there that I was interested in it. I sort of teed myself up for it," Findlay said.
"Obviously, when you've got a year left, you're still a loan player, that's what I was. But as soon as you go to the six-month stage and you know that you're a Bosman, then as soon as the club approached me and said it was something they were interested in, I had no interest in looking elsewhere.
"I said to my agent: 'I want to get it done.'
"It's probably the most I've enjoyed my football in a long time, and it makes perfect sense to continue it for another two years at the end of this year. As I said, as soon as the club came, there was no other option in my mind.
"I've tried a lot of different situations in my career. I've tried the MLS, I've tried something completely different. Probably at the time, it wasn't as common as it is now. I went to Oxford, it probably didn't work out the way that it did.
"I was able to work with the manager at Kilmarnock. When he gets the job to come to a massive club like Hearts, you've got a massive club that want you, you've got a manager who trusts you, you've got a manager you like to play under, and you're playing well.
"When you put all those things together, to take that list and want to move up and try something else again, it made no sense to me. Everything's going the way I want it just now. I couldn't have picked a better six months than what we've had. When you've got the chance to continue that for two more years, it was a very easy decision to make."
Stability
Come the summer, Findlay will depart Oxford, having signed a four-year deal with the English club and playing just 44 times for them.
In the player's words, the last three seasons have been "strange", but for the first time in a while, Findlay has the stability of knowing where he is going to be heading into the summer, both on the field in his profession and off the field with his family.
"You think from the fact they've had two or three different managers that that might change, but I've had the same story to the point that I've not spoken to the last two managers. I've never been contacted by them," he said of Oxford.
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"I think Oxford just seen me as a player that they had, that it maybe didn't work out the way they did, which is fair, this happens in football. I've been on loan the last two years and I've not had much contact with them, if I'm being honest.
"When the Hearts thing came about, it wasn't as if I had to talk to Oxford about it. It was done above me and I was more than happy to have it done early.
"The rejection part from Oxford, I maybe got hit with that after the first year when I was initially told I could find a new club. Since then, I've got used to it and I've been able to thrive at the clubs where I've been on loan, where I've felt that I've been trusted the way that I hope that I can be.
"You get to the end of every season, and it's as if even though you're contracting, you know that your financial situation is safe. You've got the hesitancy of not knowing where you're going to live, not knowing if you're going to have to pack up your rented accommodation.
"To be able to get that security, and know that I can relax, and I'm going to be in the one place for a couple of years, it's massive for me and my family.
"When you add in the fact that it's Hearts, who are on the sort of trajectory that they're on, it makes it a lot easier as well. Everything about the situation made sense to me."
He added: "My family have been great. My wife's been around the block with me. She packed up the things and moved to America, and just as she got comfortable in America, we came back over to Oxford.
"So, she's learned the hard way what it's like in the life of a footballer's wife. As soon as that idea came up and I mentioned it to my wife, she was more than happy for it to stay the way it is.
"We're settled, we're happy where we are. I'm happy football-wise. Our stars are all aligned, and it was the easiest decision I ever had to make."
Dressing room and Halkett competition
Derek McInnes described Findlay as one of the club's linchpins, on the pitch and in the dressing room.
He is part of a dressing room that is very close-knit, even with the larger squad size.
That larger squad size also means competition, no more so than at centre-back. Findlay, who has developed a strong partnership with Craig Halkett, has strong competition from Jamie McCart. Stephen Kingsley can also play as a left-sided centre-back.
"I think when you're at a club the size of Hearts that are looking to achieve what Hearts want to achieve, you're going to have strength in depth. Maybe I've not had that as much at other places in my career," he said.
"Thankfully, I've been able to have the jersey from the start of the season. I've been able to hold on to it, but I'm under no illusions how good the guys are that aren't playing just now, like Jamie, Frankie [Kent], Michael [Steinwender]. Any one of them would probably walk into 95 per cent of the teams in the Premiership, I'm fully aware of that.
"They're very good players and you've seen it when Halks has maybe missed a few games, whoever stepped in on these days has done really well.
"I've got no doubt that if performances drop and someone else comes in, that would be the case again. So yes, it does make you strive to make sure you keep performing because you know that there are people ready to do what you've been doing if that level drops.
"I've been lucky, I've always been involved in quite good changing rooms and this one is no different.
"I think a bit of the sort of doubt everybody had about the Jamestown Analytics was that you can sign players, but you can't really sign people. You don't know what they're going to be like until you come through the door and I think we've been really lucky.
"I get on really well with every single player in that changing room. It's a team full of great boys and I'd happily go out for a coffee with any one of them afterwards.
"I've built a lot of really good friendships and I don't think you can be a successful team without that. I think to have that success, you need to have that bond with each other, you need to be able to go that extra yard for each other.
"The changing room's great and it's one that since the moment I walked in I knew straight away that this could work here."
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One of the ongoing competitions within the dressing room is Findlay and Halkett's goal battle. The latter edged ahead 6-5 with his winning header against Livingston.
With the players travelling to training together every morning, there is a very important prize at stake.
"I mean, just as I made it five each, he comes back in and makes it 6-5 again," Findlay smiled.
"We have a joke about it. I think the fact you have the little joke, the little competition, that almost makes it more of an incentive to get the goals. But it's funny that halfway through the season I've already got my record tally and I'm still one behind him.
"I'm trying as hard as I can, but he is one ahead just now and I'm sure he'll remind you of that if you ask him."
He added: "It's purely bragging rights, but in the car school with him, that's a lot. That's high enough stakes."
Scotland hopes
Of course, it wouldn't be a chat with Findlay without a look ahead to the World Cup.
After all, he has experience of playing under Steve Clarke at Kilmarnock and was handed his only Scotland cap by the national team boss.
That arrived in 2019 with Findlay scoring on his debut in a 6-0 win over San Marino at Hampden Park. Lawrence Shankland also scored that evening in his first start for his country.
The focus is on Hearts, but the World Cup is certainly a carrot.
"I don't think there's any football player in the world who wouldn't want to play at a World Cup, who doesn't want to represent their country; it's the pinnacle for any player," Findlay said.
"I made my debut a long time ago now, five or six years, and it was the proudest night of my career and it will be until the day I retire.
"I know the manager of Scotland well and I trust him a lot to make sure that he makes the right decisions. He's a manager I've got a lot of respect for and he's picked boys that have got to three major championships for a reason. He knows what he's doing.
"All I can do is make sure I perform well for Hearts and make sure that if any opportunity does arise, that I put myself in a position where I could be looked at, but again, that is out of my hands. That's up to the manager there.
"All I can do is put in a performance for Hearts and, if anything comes off the back of it, then it would be a massive bonus. I'd be very glad to be involved."
